V///. 


MUTUAL  RELATION  OF  MASTERS  AND 

SLAVES  AS  TAUGHT  IN  THE  BIBLE 

A   DISCOURSE 


PREACHED    IN"    THE 


/(<$>%  (*=&/ 


Wf^Anitm^n 


£LItfll        W\ 


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AUGUSTA,         GEORGIA, 


On  Sabbath  Morning,  Jan.  6, 1861, 


By  JOSEPH  R  WILSON,  D.  D.,  Pastoe. 


IPnblislxed.    by    T2.eqiiesi. 


AUGUSTA,     GA 

STEAM  PRESS  OF  CHRONICLE  &  SENTINEL, 
1861. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Augusta,  January  7th,  18(31. 
TO  THE  REV.  DR.  WILSON:— 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sir  : — Having  heard  your  sermon  on  yesterday,  and  be- 
lieving it  to  be  of  such  a  character  that  its  free  circulation  may  bring 
about  great  good,  and  a  better  understanding  of  the  basis  upon  which 
the  relation  of  Master  and  Slave,  as  it  exists  in  the  Southern  States,  rests  ; 
and  that,  to  sustain  us  in  our  position,  Ave  have  both  "the  law  and  the 
testimony,"  we  earnestly  ask  a  copy  of  it  for  publication. 
With  sentiments  of  the  highest  esteem,  we  are  yours,  &c, 

Geo.  T.  Jacksox*,  W.  W.  Alexander, 

Alfred  Baker,  Jonx  K.  Jacksox", 

J.  S.  Wilcox,  C.  A.  Rowland, 

J.  A.  Axtsley,  1).  H.  Axslet, 

M.  WiLKix*soxr,  J.  W.  Boxes, 

T.    W.     CniCUESTER. 


Augusta,  January  8th,  1801. 

Gentlemen  : — I  confess  to  an  honest  reluctance  in  allowing  the  publica- 
tion of  the  sermon,  a  copy  of  which  you  politely  request.  It  was  not 
written  with  a  view  to  wide  circulation,  nor  was  it  prepared  witli  exclu- 
sive reference  to  the  present  unhappy  agitations  of  the  popular  mind. 
You  are  aware  that  it  is  the  closing  discourse  of  a  series  upon  "Family 
Government,1'  intended  for  my  own  church,  and  for  immediate  effect  at 
home.  But,  still,  its  discussion  may  be  the  means  of  doing  a  service  to 
my  slaveholding  brethren  throughout  the  State,  by  promoting  intelligence 
upon  a  momentous  subject  of  practical  interest  to  them  and  the  whole 
world.  It  is  surely  high  time  that  the  Bible  view  of  slavery  should  be 
examined,  and  that  we  should  begin  to  meet  the  infidel  fanaticism  of  our 
infatuated  enemies  upon  the  elevated  ground  of  a  divine  warrant  for  the 
institution  we  are  resolved  to  cherish.  My  sermon  is,  therefore,  placed 
at  your  disposal.  Your  sincere  friend  and  servant 

for  Christ's  sake, 

Joseph  E.  Wilson'. 

To  Messrs.  Jackson,  Alexander,  Baker  and  others. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hil 


http://archive.org/details/mutualrelationofOOwils 


I )  ISOOURSE. 


EPHEBIAKS,  VI:  5-9  :—"  Servants,  be  obedient  to  them  tbat  are  your 
masters  according  to  the  flesh,  with  fear  and  trembling,  in  singleness 
of  your  heart,  as  unto  Christ ;  not  with  eye-service  as  men-pleasers, 
but  as  the  servants  of  Christ,  doing  the  will  of  God  from  the  heart ; 
with  good-will  doing  service,  as  to  the  Lord  and  not  to  men ;  know- 
ing that  whatsoever  good  thing  any  man  doeth,  the  same  shall  he  re- 
'  ceive  of  the  Lord,  whether  he  be  bond  or  free.  And,  ye  masters, 
do  the  same  things  unto  them,  forbearing  threatening,  knowing  that 
your  Master  also  is  in  Heaven;  neither  is  there  respect  of  persons 
with  him." 

I. 

Our  attention  is  forcibly  arrested  by  the  very  first  word 
of  this  text;  "servants."  There  is  no  difficulty  in  ascer- 
taining its  true  meaning,  in  the  original  Greek.  It  dis- 
tinctly and  unequivocally  signifies  "slaves,"  springing  as  it 
does  in  this  its  substantive  form  from  a  verbal  root,  which 
means  to  bind.  There  are  several  words,  conveying  differ- 
ent shades  of  thought,  which  Grecians  were  accustomed  to 
employ  in  speaking  of  servants,  inasmuch  as  there  are 
several  kinds  and  degrees  of  servitude.  But  no  one  of 
them  does  so  emphatically  set  forth  ilm  true  and  simple 
idea  of  domestic  slavery  as  understood  in  these  Southern 
States,  as  the  word  "<JouXotf" — the  word  whose  plural  form 
opens  our  text.  It  refers  us  to  a  man  who  is  in  the  relation 
of  permanent  and  legal  bondage  to  another:  this  other 
having  in  him  and  his  labor  the  strictest  rights  of  'property. 
The  word  is  never  employed  to  indicate  the  condition  of  a 


MUTUAL    RELATIONS    OF    MASTERS    AND 


mere  hireling.  It  points  out  a  dependent  who  is  solely  un- 
der the  authority  of  a  master  :  that  master  being  the  head 
of  a  household  and  wielding  over  his  slaves  the  commission 
of  a  despot,  whose  acts  are  to  he  determined  only  by  the 
restraining  laws  of  Christianity  and  by  general  considera- 
tions of  his  own  and  their  welfare  :  a  despot  responsible  to 
God,  a  good  conscience,  and  the  well-being  of  society.  I 
use  this  word  "despot"  advisedly.  It  is  the  scriptural  op- 
posite of  "slave,"  as  in  the  passage  from  the  1st  Epistle  to 
Timothy  :  "Let  as  many  servants  (&>uXou</)  as  are  under  the 
yoke  count  their  own  masters  (dstftforatf)  worthy  of  all  honor;" 
and  as  in  the  words  taken  from  the  Epistle  to  Titus  :  "Ex- 
hort servants  to  be  obedient  to  their  own  masters" — slaves 
to  be  obedient  to  their  despots.  In  the  passage  immediately 
under  discussion,  the  word  "servants"  has  for  its  antithesis 
the  word  which  may  be  rendered  "lords,"  and  which,  in  its 
lowest  signification,  means  "possessors,"  "owners,"  "mas- 
ters" in  a  sense  sufficiently  absolute.  As  a  freedman,  in 
the  ISTew  Testament  sense,  is  one  who  is  at  liberty  to  go 
and  act  and  be  what  he  pleases,  so  a  slave  is  one  who  goes 
and  acts  and  is  controlled  by  a  superior  will.  And  not  only 
do  the  New  Testament  writers  use  the  word  (Wxotf,  to  express 
the  meaning  I  have  shown  it  to  have ;  this  meaning  is  like- 
wise common  to  all  the  ancient  authors,  whose  works  in 
the  Greek  language  are  considered  classic;  men  who  wrote 
with  strict  attention  to  verbal  accurac}r,  and  whose  compo- 
sitions came  from  their  pens  at  a  time  when  domestic  slave- 
ry was  a  universal  institution.  I  have  been  thus  particular 
in  establishing  the  true  import  of  this  word,  for  a  purpose. 
The  time  has  fully  come  when  all  who  are  interested  per- 
sonally in  the  subject   of  Southern  institutions — whether 


SLAVES    AS    TAUGHT    IN    THE    BIBLE. 


masters  or  servants — should,  comprehend  their  scriptural  re- 
lation to  them — should,  know  whether  or  not  the  holiness 
of  Grod  receives  or  rejects  them — and.  whether  in  all  our 
possible  contentions  for  their  maintenance  we  are  to  have 
only  men  for  our  enemies  or,  in  addition,  our  Sovereign 
Ruler  also.  Now,  we  have  already  seen  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  employs  words  which  lie  has  intended,  to  he  under- 
stood, as  distinctly  enunciating  the  existence  of  domestic 
servitude — that  lie  has  sent  to  all  the  world  a  volume  of 
truth,  which  is  indisputably  addressed  to  men  who  hold 
slaves  and  to  the  slaves  who  possess  masters — and  that, 
from  the  connections  in  which  these  highly  suggestive 
words  occur,  He  has  included  slavery  as  an  organizing  ele- 
ment in  that  family  order  which  lies  at  the  very  foundation 
of  Church  and  State.  A  study  of  such  words  is,  therefore, 
a  first  and  an  important  step  in  ascertaining  the  will  of  God 
with  respect  to  an  institution  which  short  sighted  men  have 
indiscriminately  and  violently  denounced,  and  which  wicked 
men  have  declared  unworthy  of  the  countenance  of  a  Chris- 
tianity whose  peaceful  and  conservative  spirit,  as  applied  to 
society,  they  neither  respect  nor  understand. 

II. 

I  am  sure  that  you  will  bear  with  me  while  I  take  anoth- 
er step  in  this  great  argument,  and  show  how  completely 
the  Bible  brings  human  slavery  underneath  the  sanction  of 
divine  authority,  upon  other  and  stronger  grounds.  In- 
deed, my  text  compels  me  to  take  this  course — for,  if  our 
domestic  servitude  be  essentially  different  from  that  to  which 
the  Apostle's  exhortations  refer,  we  do  but  beat  the  air 
with  empty  sounds  when  we  endeavor  to  apply  them  to  the 


MUTUAL    RELATIONS    OF    MASTERS    AND 


masters  and  servants  who  compose  the  christian  congrega- 
tions of  this  section  of  our  country.  If  Paul,  or  rather  the 
great  God,  speaking  by  his  inspired  lips,  meant  to  confine 
his  evangelical  teachings  to  a  state  of  things  wholly  unlike 
that  under  which  Ave  live,  then  this  portion  of  Scripture  is 
to  us  a  dead  letter,  and  can  have  no  influence  upon  our  con- 
sciences or  conduct.  If  we  preach  from  it  at  all,  therefore, 
it  must  be  employed  for  the  practical  benefit  of  hearers  now 
as  much  as  when  the  Ephcsian  church  opened  their  ears  and 
hearts  to  its  reception.  And,  in  truth,  in  the  suggestions 
of  this  very  thought,  there  is  a  remote  scriptural  plea  to  be 
found  for  the  divine  sanction  of  slavery.  It  would  seem, 
that,  inasmuch  as  the  Bible  was  intended  for  all  times  and 
all  ages,  and  not  for  one  period  and  a  single  country,  the 
fact  that  it  gives  directions  as  plain  and  fall  and  forcible 
for  the  regulation  of  domestic  service  as  it  does  for  defining 
and  limiting  the  marital,  parental  and  filial  relations  in 
families,  furnishes  an  inferential  proof  of  the  proposition 
that,  everywhere,  such  service  ought  to  be  as  universal  as 
such  higher  and  tenderer  relations  :  that  no  household  is 
perfect  under  the  gospel  which  does  not  contain  all  the 
grades  of  authority  and  obedience,  from  that  of  husband 
and  wife,  down  through  that  of  father  and  son,  to  that  of 
master  and  servant.  Accordingly,  we  do  find,  as  a  matter 
of  historical  fact,  that  among  all  people,  during  all  the  pe- 
riods of  time,  there  have  been  those,  in  every  family,  whom 
the  very  law  of  necessity  itself  has  made  servants  to  the 
others  ;  servants,  if  not  always  in  the  rigid  sense  which 
tlavery  seems  to  imply,  yet  in  a  sense  sufficiently  obvious 
aad  strict.  Go  where  you  will — visit  what  family  you  may, 
and  you  will  find  members  of  the  household,  under  some 


SLAVES    AS    TAUGHT    IN    THE    BIBLE. 


law  which  requires  them  more  than  the  others,  to  perform 
menial  services  for  all  the  little  community.  The  hireling, 
the  wife,  the  eldest  child,  the  dependent  stranger,  may  be 
the  voluntary  or  involuntary  doer  of  offices  which  must  fall 
to  the  lot  of  some  one.  I  need  not  point  you  to  the  mani- 
fold illustrations  of  this  idea,  which  appears  in  all  condi- 
tions of  human  society — even  in  those  which  are  most  fa- 
vored— even  in  those  from  which  come  the  most  heate  d 
denunciations  of  a  slavery  which,  existing  among  us,  differs 
at  best  from  their  own  more  in  degree  and  form  than  in 
essential  qualities.  There  must  be  such  inequalities  in 
society;  and  whenever  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  remove 
them — whenever  radicalism  has  proposed  to  smooth  down 
all  individuals  in  the  family  or  other  community  to  a  com- 
mon level — as  in  the  experiments  of  Fonrierism,  which 
once  excited  so  much  attention  in  the  world, — it  was  found 
that  a  fundamental  law  had  been  transgressed,  and  failure 
inevitably  attended  such  unscriptural  and  disorganizing 
attempts.  God  has  evidently  made  one  to  serve  another. 
The  simple  question  is,  what  must  be  the  nature  of  this 
service  ?  The  answer  is,  that  its  nature  depends  upon  cir- 
cumstances. And  out  of  this  answer  springs  the  interro- 
gation, has  God  ever  shown  us  that  there  are  circumstances 
under  which  involuntary  service  may  be  required  and  yield- 
ed on  the  part  of  masters  and  slaves  ?  Has  He  ever  de- 
clared this  kind  of  service  to  be  right,  and  lifted  its  exis- 
tence entirely  above  the  charge  of  sinfulness  ?  Are  we  at 
full  liberty  to  carry  to  Him  upon  the  arms  of  our  faith,  our 
households,  and  as  confidently  ask  Him  to  bless  our  ser- 
vants as  our  children  ?  Does  this  great,  beneficial,  civiliz- 
ing institution  of  slavery  live  beneath  the  light  of  His  face, 


10  MUTUAL    ItELATIOAS    OF    MASTERS  AND 

with  no  fault  to  be  found  with  it  upon  the  part  of  His  in- 
finite holiness,  except  when  and  wherein  it  may  sutler  abuse 
at  the  hands  of  the  parties  concerned?  Surely  the  Bible  is 
clear  enough  upon  this  point  to  satisfy  the  most  sensitive 
conscience.  Light  cannot  shine  with  greater  brightness 
than  does  the  doctrine  of  the  sinlessness — nay,  than  does 
the  doctrine  of  the  righteousness — of  an  institution,  which, 
besides  being  sustained  and  promoted  by  a  long  course  of 
favorable  providences,  besides  being  recognized  as  a  prime 
conservator  of  the  civilization  of  the  world,  besides  being 
one  of  the  colored  man's  foremost  sources  of  blessing,  is 
likewise  directly  sanctioned  by  both  the  utterance  and 
silence  of  Scripture. 

III. 

Look,  first,  at  the  most  instructive  silence  of  Scripture 
upon  this  subject.  An  obvious  feature  of  the  sacred  word, 
whose  office,  in  the  hands  of  the  Spirit,  is  to  convince  of 
sin  and  conduct  to  righteousness,  is  this  :  it  never  mentions 
a  grave  offence  against  God  without  denouncing  it  directly 
or  impliedly :  denouncing  it,  too,  in  the  face  of  every 
human  policy  for  maintaining  its  existence :  denouncing  it, 
that  is,  without  the  least  regard  to  present  consequences. 
The  Bible  could  not  wink  at  prevailing  error,  much  less  at 
prevailing  crime,  least  of  all  at  prevailing  ungodliness, 
through  any  fear  of  arousing  angry  opposition  against 
Christianity  on  the  part  of  such  as  might  hold  the  civil 
power,  or  of  such  as  might  direct  the  sneer  of  hatred. 
Christianity  came,  rather,  as  necessarily  it  must  have  come, 
as  a  "sword,"  to  set  men  at  "variance"  on  the  field  of  a 
great  fight  between  evil  and  good.     Wherever,  therefore, 


SLAVES    AS    TAUGHT    IN    THE    BIBLE.  11 

it  went  in  the  early  ages,  it  dealt  incessant  blows  at  idola- 
try, for  example;  blows  which  are  now  being  repeated 
throughout  the  pagan  world  by  an  army  of  missionaries, 
whom  no  danger  is  sufficient  to  appal.  Under  all  circum- 
stances, too,  falsehood  comes  under  the  frown  of  Scripture 
truth ;  so  do  theft,  drunkenness,  violence,  murder,  and  a 
multitude  of  smaller  offenses.  In  fact,  on  the  deeply  col- 
ored canvass  of  God's  word,  you  find  such  a  faithful  repre- 
sentation of  human  guilt  through  all  the  turns  and  pre- 
tences and  developments  of  the  sinful  heart,  as  leaves  noth- 
ing wanting  to  complete  the  portraiture  of  that  manifold 
criminality  against  which  divine  wrath  breathes  one  con- 
stant stream  of  fiery  condemnation.  God  will  not,  must 
not,  cannot  tamper  with  sin,  in  any  of  its  forms,  so  long  as 
He  remains  true  to  Himself  and  to  His  holy  magistracy. 
He  can  neither  connive  at  it  by  silence,  nor  perpetuate  it 
by  giving  laws  for  its  regulation,  nor  excuse  it  by  letting 
down  to  its  weakness  His  relaxed  law.  Sin  is  wrong  ab- 
solutely— a  deep  curse  to  the  universe,  in  itself- — and  when 
discovered  by  the  searches  of  divine  truth,  whether  in  the 
individual  heart  or  in  the  common  practices  of  societies, 
must  meet  with  the  instant,  the  spontaneous,  the  over- 
whelming displeasure  of  Jehovah. 

JSTow,  iri  the  face  of  such  reflections,  it  is  remarkable,  to 
say  the  least,  that  the  institution  of  compulsory  slavery,  as 
it  existed  throughout  the  Roman  Empire,  although  often 
referred  to  in  the  Wew  Testament,  is  never  once  condemned, 
never  once  even  discountenanced.  On  the  contrary,  pro- 
vision is  made  for  its  perpetuation,  by  means  of  the  rules 
which  are  given  for  its  regulation  and  improvement.  So 
far  from  Scripture  appearing  as  the  destroyer,  it  appears  as 


12  MUTUAL   RELATIONS    OF    MASTERS    AND 

the  upholder,  of  an  institution,  which,  under  proper  manage- 
ment, by  christian  people,  is  represented  as  an  element  in  do- 
mestic completeness,  whose  presence  is  a  benefit  and  a  bles- 
sing. If  it  be  a  wrong,  it  is  not  so  in  itself ;  it  can  become 
so  only  when  masters  and  servants  misconceive  and  abuse 
their  relationship  to  each  other.  We  are  led  to  understand 
that  if  the  salt  of  grace  be  thrown  into  this  branch  of  the 
family  union,  it  will  prove  an  auxiliary  to  the  church  and 
society  only  second  to  the  parental  and  filial  relationship. 
And,  lest  any  should  imagine  that  because  the  slavery  of 
the  Roman  Empire  was  essentially  different  from  that  which 
we  cherish,  the  Bible  smiled  upon  that  when  it  could  not 
upon  this,  we  have  the  amplest  testimony  of  history  to  show 
that  the  two  systems  exhibited  entire  agreement  in  princi- 
ple, and  that  they  differ  only  in  their  circumstances.  It  is 
certain  that  our  servile  laws  are  indefinitely  milder — every 
way  more  humane — than  were  those  which  existed  when 
the  Savior  preached  and  the  Apostles  wrote.  It  is  certain, 
too,  that  the  institution  in  that  ancient  empire  was  far  more 
extensive — more  thoroughly  domesticated — more  perfectly 
inwrought  into  the  very  structure  of  society — than  is  the 
similar  institution  in  this  modern  republic — and,  therefore, 
was  of  such  an  amazing  magnitude  of  proportions  as  that, 
if  involuntary  servitude  were  in  itself  an  evil  thing,  then 
was  presented  the  very  best  opportunity  to  strike  it  down 
forever  with  a  blow  from  the  hammer  of  the  Spirit.  A  sin 
which  overshadowed  the  land,  which  darkened  every  house- 
hold, which  hampered  the  church — surely  a  sin  of  such 
enormity  would  have  been  visited  with  the  utmost  severity 
of  heaven's  fury.  But  no :  that  fury  nowhere  appears  in 
the   threats   or   expostulations   of  Scripture.     Instead,  we 


SLAVES   AS    TAUGHT   IN   THE    BIBLE.  13 

find  a  distinct  law  of  permission,  and  an  unequivocal  note 
of  favor,  extended  to  it.  The  Bible  would  control  and 
sanctify,  but  not  destroy  it. 

In  the  days  of  the  Apostles,  it  is  proper  for  me  to  remind 
you,  there  was  a  party,  whose  numbers  were  scattered 
throughout  the  empire,  which  constituted  the  "abolition 
party"  of  that  period.  It  is  known  that  the  Pharisees  gave 
a  special  prominence  to  political  freedom  ;  joined  with  them 
were  the  Essenes ;  and  binding  together  the  whole,  were 
certain  philosophers  who  inculcated  unattainable  notions  of 
universal  liberty.  These  persons  were  in  the  habit  of  con- 
demning Roman  masters  as  unjust,  impious,  and  destroyers 
of  a  law  of  nature.  They  inculcated  the  same  abstract  doc- 
trines as  those  which  have  proceeded  from  mistaken  phil- 
anthropy in  our  own  distracted  country,  and  which,  at  the 
time  when  Paul  wrote  to  the  Ephesians,  were  threatening 
the  world  with  discord  and  bloodshed,  as  now,  by  the  per- 
missive wrath  of  God  again  they  threaten.  It  was,  there- 
fore, to  meet  the  unholy  recklessness  of  such  a  destructive 
spirit,  that  the  Apostles  were  careful  to  enjoin  the  conserva- 
tion of  an  institution,  which,  though,  like  all  othei  earthly 
institutions,  attended  by  many  circumstantial  evils  arising 
from  the  corruption  of  the  human  heart,  was  nevertheless 
no  more  wrong  in  its  essential  principles  than  the  relation 
of  husband  and  wife  or  father  and  child.  And  Paul  was 
not  a  mere  theoretical  teacher  upon  this  subject.  He  prac- 
tised the  righteousness  which  he  enjoined.  He  once,  at 
least,  had  it  in  his  power  to  display  the  true  spirit  of  chris- 
tian love  in  his  treatment  of  slaveholders.  I  refer  you  to 
his  conduct  with  respect  to  Onesimus,  a  runaway  slave  be- 
longing to  that  believer  in  Christ,  Philemon.     This  servant 


14  MUTUAL   RELATIONS    OF    MASTERS   AND 

coming  providentially  under  the  influence  of  Paul's  preach- 
ing, was  happily  converted.  Being  converted,  what  was 
his  duty  to  his  defrauded  master  ?  The  spirit  of  Christiani- 
ty, which  now  resided  in  his  heart,  informed  his  conscience 
of  the  fact  that  he  was  the  jiropcrty  of  Philemon,  and  that 
while  he  remained  away  from  his  owner's  home  and  au- 
thority, he  was  committing  the  sin  of  robbery.  He  con- 
sulted the  Apostle.  What  was  his  advice  ?  lie  did  not 
hesitate  to  urge  Onesimus  to  go  at  once  to  his  master,  con- 
fess at  his  feet  the  grevious  fault  he  had  committed,  aud 
beg  to  be  received  once  more  among  the  number  of  his 
slaves.  And  that  the  reconciliation  between  master  and 
servant  might  be  hastened,  Paul  wrote,  (and  wrote  under 
the  inspiration  of  Grod,)  a  letter  of  beseeching  tenderness 
to  the  offended  owner,  asking  him  to  pardon  the  faithful 
fugitive  and  give  him  a  place  in  his  confidence,  and  telling 
him  that  he  would  now,  with  grace  in  his  heart,  be  a  far 
better  servant  than  ever. 

Such  reasoning,  from  the  implied  allowance  of  slavery 
by  inspired  Scripture,  is,  my  friends,  conclusive  enough 
upon  the  point  in  question.  Let  neither  master  nor  servant 
dispute  the  righteousness,  doubt  the  wisdom,  or  fear  the 
reproach  of  the  relation  which  they  sustain  towards  each 
other.  It  is  not  sinful.  It  is  not  inexpedient.  It  is  not 
degradatory. 

IV. 

But  look  at  God's  direct  and  positive  utterances  in 
the  premises.  I  need  only  point  you  to  them,  so  clearly 
do  they  establish  the  fact  that  this  part  of  family  order 
was  always  familiar  to  the    divine  mind   in   its   plans   of 


SLAVES   AS    TAUGHT   IN   THE   BIBLE.  15 

human  government.  Domestic  slavery  is  twice  clearly  ac- 
knowledged in  the  brief  law  of  the  Ten  Commandments. 
In  the  4th  law,  with  regard  to  the  proper  observance  of  the 
Sabbath,  the  rule  of  righteousness  is  laid  down,  which  pro- 
vides for  the  periodical  rest,  during  holy  time,  of  the 
"man-servant  and  the  maid-servant,"  who,  together  with 
the  other  animate  property  of  the  household,  must  suspend 
labor  ;  and  who,  together  with  the  other  rational  members  of 
ihe  family  must  expend  their  thoughts  in  glorifying  God. 
In  the  10th  law,  again,  which  establishes  those  social  rela- 
tions of  mankind,  whose  integrity  and  purity  must  be  main- 
tained in  heart  if  they  would  be  productive  of  good  in  fact, 
and  where,  accordingly,  the  desires  of  men  are  forbidden  to 
covet  neighbor's  blessings — in  this  law,  it  is  made  a  fatal 
sin  to  covet  his  uman-servant  or  his  maid-servant,'"  just  as  it 
is  to  covet  any  other  of  his  possessions. 

This  recognition  of  involuntary  servitude  is,  we  say,  thus 
found  imbedded  in  the  very  heart  of  the  moral  law  itself — 
that  law  which  determines  the  principles  of  divine  adminis- 
tration over  men — a  law  which  constitutes,  if  I  may  so 
speak,  the  very  constitution  of  that  royal  kingdom  whose 
regulations  begin  and  end  in  the  infinite  holiness  of  Jeho- 
vah, and  whose  spread  through  the  universal  heart  of  the 
race  is  the  aim  of  all  Scripture. 

But,  in  addition,  hear  the  express  words  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  the  Levitical  law — words  which  embody  an  ex- 
plicit provision  for  the  future  possession,  by  the  Israelites, 
of  man  in  property  which  they  did  not  have  at  the  time 
these  words  were  spoken  :  a  provision,  then,  not  to  regulate 
what  already  existed,  but  to  legalize  what  was,  40  years 
afterwards,  to  become  a  distinct  institution  : 


1G  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    OF    MASTERS    AND 

"Both  thy  bondmen  and  thy  bondwomen  which  thou 
shalt  have,  shall  be  of  the  heathen  that  are  round  about 
you  ;  of  them  shall  ye  buy  bondmen  and  bondmaids.  And 
ye  shall  take  them  as  an  inheritance  for  your  children  after 
you  to  inherit  them  for  a  possession  ;  they  shall  be  your 
bondmen  forever."  ISTo  law  can  be  plainer.  ±so  instruc- 
tion of  truth  could  more  convince  the  christian  that  he  is 
standing  upon  the  surest  and  safest  ground,  whenever  he 
resists  the  imputation  that  he  is  a  sinner  while  upholding  a 
system  of  domestic  servitude.  He  can  triumphantly  say: 
"I  direct  you  to  the  law  and  testimony  !" 

V. 

But  my  hearers,  if  you  wish  for  farther  conviction,  carry 
your  belief  of  the  essential  rightness  of  slavery  to  the  in- 
junctions of  our  text,  which  the  Apostle  publishes  for  its 
conservation  and  perfection.  He  as  much  as  says,  that  it  is 
unnecessary  to  fear  that  this  long-cherished  institution  will 
first  give  way  before  the  enemies  who  press  upon  it  from 
without.  If  slaveholders  preserve  it  as  an  element  of  social 
welfare,  in  the  spirit  of  the  christian  religion,  throwing  in- 
to it  the  full  measure  of  gospel-salt  allotted  to  it,  and  cast- 
ing around  it  the  same  guardianship  with  which  they  would 
protect  their  family  peace,  if  threatened  on  some  other 
ground — they  need  apprehend  nothing  but  their  own  dere- 
liction in  duty  to  themselves  and  their  dependent  servants. 
I  mean,  simply,  that  while  we  ought  to  allow  no  malignant 
interference  from  any  quarter  with  the  institution  of  which 
we  are  God's  appointed  guardians,  and  while  we  ought  to 
be  suitably  alive  to  any  threat  of  presumptuous  violence 
which  may  seek  to  wrest  from  us  our  heaven-given  rights 
in  our  heaven-allowed  property — yet,  after  all,  the  wisdom 


SLAVES    AS    TAUGHT    IN    THE    BIBLE.  17 

which,  lies  underneath  the  spirit  of  this  sensitive  watchful- 
ness of  our  political  zeal,  and  which  gives  to  that  zeal  its 
purity  and  power,  is  the  wisdom  to  be  exercised  in  making 
our  domestic  servitude  all  that  it  should  become,  so  as  to 
render  it  worth  the  expenditure  of  every  energy  of  defence. 
"We  must  see  to  it,  that  masters  and  servants  understand 
and  appreciate  their  mutual  relation,  and  that  they  main- 
tain it  on  both  sides  as  christians.  This  is  the  object  of  the 
apostolic  exhortations  before  us,  and  upon  which  I  will  now 
briefly  comment :  exhortations  which,  seeking  to  purify 
domestic  servitude,  do  thereby  bring  it  completely  within 
gospel  sanctions. 

There  are  certain  vices  which  slavery  is  apt  to  engender, 
in  preference  to  all  others.  These  are  founded  in  indo- 
lence, eye-service  and  hypocrisy.  These  evils  appear  in  a 
variety  of  forms,  and  are  a  constant  source  of  irritation  and 
unhappiness.  But,  so  far  as  the  servant  is  concerned,  they 
are  met  by  one  simple  injunction,  the  injunction  of  obe- 
dience to  his  master.  If  obedience  be  sincere,  be  consistent, 
be  from  proper  motives,  it  will  remove  every  vice  from  the 
servant's  temper  and  conduct.  The  Apostle,  therefore, 
presents  to  the  reader  those  noble  qualities  of  servile  alle- 
giance which  will  elevate  it  at  once  to  the  high  point  of 
christian  compliance  with  rightful  authority ;  the  only  wor- 
thy compliance.  He  exhorts  servants  to  obey,  1st,  with  con- 
scientous  anxiety:  expressed  by  "fear  and  trembling." 
ISTot,  however,  so  much  the  fear  of  man  as  a  reverential 
fear  of  God,  is  to  be  understood  in  these  words.  It  is  not 
the  servile  dread  of  punishment.  It  is  a  careful  and  pains- 
taking solicitude  to  do  right  under  all  the  circumstances  of 

their  relation,  because  the  eye  of  heaven  rests  upon  them 
9 


18  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    OF   MASTERS   AND 


and  will  follow  with  its  displeasure  every  act  or  course  of 
wrong-doing.  Obedience  must.  2dly  be  with  "singleness 
of  mind  :"  not  hypocritical,  not  deceitful,  not  inspired  by 
duplicity  or  cunning.  There  must  be  no  double-minded- 
ness,  but  the  giving  to  the  business  in  hand  all  the  simpli- 
city of  an  honest  purpose.  Service  is  to  be  yielded  upon 
principle,  not  with  that  attempt  to  please  both  self  and  the 
master  which  ends  in  "eye-service,"  and  then  only  seems 
diligent  and  complete  when  he  is  present,  but  breaks  down 
into  remissness  when  he  is  absent.  And  to  this  excellence 
will  obedience  attain  when,  odly,  it  issues  from  the  heart 
which  desires  "first  of  all  to  please  Christ.  Obey  "not  as 
men-pleasers"  says  the  exhortation,  "but  as  the  servants  of 
Christ,  doing  the  will  of  God"  in  your  station,  "from  the 
heart ;  with  good-will,  doing  service,  as  to  the  Lord  and  not 
to  men."  The  servant  is,  like  the  child,  to  know  that  the 
authority  under  which  he  has  been  placed  is  from  above, 
and  that  the  master  rules  him  as  the  agent  of  heaven.  He 
must,  therefore,  do  his  whole  duty  with  his  thoughts  fixed 
upon  that  divine  upper  hand  of  which  the  lower  one  of  his 
owner  is  but  the  representative.  Disobedience  to  his  pro- 
prietor on  earth,  is  rebellion  against  the  law  of  God,  who 
is  the  first  and  principal  proprietor  of  all.  And  this  con- 
sideration is  required  in  order  to  render  the  service  good, 
elevating  and  self-rewarding.  To  serve  Him,  who  is  infin- 
itely holy  and  infinitely  great,  while  giving  heed  to  his 
temporal  and  imperfect  master,  throws  into  the  servant's 
obedience  that  element  which  makes  it  eminently  saint- 
like, and  gives  it  a  place  in  his  christian  experience.  So 
that  he  goes  through  his  daily  duties  with  this  consolation, 
singing  its  glad  song  to  his  labor  :     "  Whatever  good   thing 


SLAVES    AS    TAUGHT    IN    THE    BIBLE.  19 

• 

any  man  doeth,  the  same  shall  he  receive  of  the  Lord,  whether  he 
be  bond,  or  free." 

"What  a  pleasing  scene  would  the  institution  of  slavery 
exhibit,  were  all  our  servants  to  yield  their  obedience  in 
this  spirit  of  the  christian  religion !  It  would  ccmmend 
itself  to  true  philanthropy  as  containing  the  best  system  of 
labor  which  is  allowable  to  fallen  man.  But  alas  !  the 
bondmen  whom  we  own  and  employ,  while  occupying  the 
most  favorable  position  for  improvement  and  happiness 
that  is  possible  to  them,  are,  as  yet,  far  from  being  imbued 
with  that  love  to  God,  which  alone  can  raise  their  lot  to  its 
highest  dignity.  We  thank  God  that  so  many  of  them  are 
pious — that  from  so  many  of  their  comfortable  houses 
comes  the  voice  of  prayer  and  praise — and  that  so  many  of 
them  are  conscientous  servitors  of  man  for  Christ's  sake. 
But  we  ought  to  look  forward  to  the  time  when  they  will 
all  be  what  the  Bible  would  make  them;  a  race  whose  love 
for  the  Master  above  will  spread  through  their  rejoicing 
millions  a  measure  of  sanctification  which  will  convert  their 
services  into  the  very 'first  of  home-blessings,  and  their  piety 
into  a  missionary  influence  for  saving  the  black  man  every- 
where from  the  ruin  of  perdition. 

But  to  accomplish  this,  their  earthly  masters  have  some- 
thing— have  much — to  do.  "Ye  masters,  do  the  same  things 
unto  them,  forbearing  threatening  •  knowing  that  your  master  also 
t3  in  heaven;  neither  is  there  respect  of  persons  with  Rim." 
For  masters  to  "do  the  same  things"  which  their  servants  are 
required  to  do,  is  for  them  to  "act  towards  the  dependents 
with  the  same  regard  to  the  will  of  God,  the  same  recogni- 
tion of  the  authority  of  Christ,  the  same  sincerity  and  good 
leeling  which  has  been  enjoined  upon   the  slaves  them 


20  MUTUAL    RELATIONS    OP    MASTERS    AND 


selves."  God  concedes  nothing  to  the  master  heyond  what 
the  law  of  love,  demands.  He  does  not  allow  the  reign  of 
injustice  over  this  institution  any  more  than  over  the  other 
departments  of  family  order.  Every  dictate  of  humanity 
does,  indeed,  render  necessary  the  maintenance  of  a  due 
subordination  of  the  servant  to  his  proprietor  :  righteous- 
ness in  fulfilling  the  obligations  of  the  relationship  does  not 
ask  foi  equality,  but  rather  repudiates  it,  seeing  that  the 
best  interests  of  all  parties  can  be  served  only  on  the  terms 
which  nature  and  providence  and  scripture  have  fixed — the 
terms  of  mastery  on  the  one  side  and  servitude  on  the  oth- 
er. But,  notwithstanding  the  careful  guardianship  of  the 
principle  of  authority  on  the  part  of  owners,  yet  must  they 
not  forget  that  they  are  to  give  an  account  to  God  at  last 
for  the  right  use  of  their  exalted  stewardship — the  steward- 
ship over  souls  of  immortal  men,  placed  directly  underneath 
their  control.  They  are  to  endeavor  to  train  up  their  ser- 
vants for  heaven — as  much  bound  to  do  this  as  they  are 
bound  to  attend  to  the  religious  instruction  of  their  own 
children.  Masters  are,  for  this  end,  even  required  to  guard 
their  tempers,  that  they  may  be  guiltless  of  unnecessary 
severity  in  the  treatment  of  their  domestics ;  to  "avoid 
threatening  :"  but  to  administer  a  firm,  consistent,  orderly, 
paternal  government,  which  will  suitably  mingle  the  mercy 
of  punishment  with  the  justice  of  reward.  They  must  re- 
member to  treat  their  servants  as  they  will  expect  their  own 
Master  in  heaven  to  treat  them.  They  must  not  neglect 
discipline,  but  it  must  always  be  the  discipline  which  is  dic- 
tated by  holy  principle.  In  short,  the  master  who  would 
do  for  his  servants  up  to  the  full  measurement  of  Bible  re- 
quirements, will  find  himself  unequal  to  the  task  in  all  its 


MUTUAL   RELATIONS    OF   MASTERS   AND  21 

length  and  breadth,  unless  he  himself  become  a  christian  in 
heart  and  practice.  To  vital  goodness  alone  belongs  the 
privilege  of  understanding  and  administering  the  whole 
authority  of  a  masterhood  so  responsible.  And,  oh,  when 
that  welcome  day  shall  dawn,  whose  light  will  reveal  a 
world  covered  with  righteousness,  not  the  least  pleasing 
sight  will  be  the  institution  of  domestic  slavery,  freed  from 
its  stupid  servility  on  the  one  side  and  its  excesses  of  neg- 
lect or  severity  on  the  other,  and  appearing  to  all  mankind 
as  containing  that  scheme  of  politics  and  morals,  which,  by 
saving  a  lower  race  from  the  destruction  of  heathenism, 
has,  under  divine  management,  contributed  to  refine,  ex- 
alt, and  enrich  its  superior  race  ! 


